Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds and all characters and recognisable themes belong to the respected creators.
Walking on Eggshells:
'He's still not answering his phone', Morgan said, sounding worried.
'Maybe he's still on the flight?', JJ said.
'He can't be, he's got to be in England by now. He's probably just forgotten to switch his phone back on, what with everything that's going on', Prentiss added, mirroring JJ's worried expression. Garcia, seeing this, leant over and took both of their hands in her own.
'Come on guys, we have to stay strong, or we're never going to find Emma. I know it's horrible to think how much pain Reid's gotta be going through right now, but just think how much worse he'll be if we don't find her', Garcia said quietly, surprising both her teammates and herself, as it wasn't usually like Garcia to be the emotionally strong member of the group.
At that moment, they all turned when they heard Hotch, who had been on the phone to the English police who were working on the case, snap his phone shut and walk towards them.
'Okay, so here's the plan: Jason, you, me and Garcia are gonna head straight over to the police station, to talk over the case with the detectives and so that Garcia can set up there. JJ, Prentiss and Morgan, here's the Johnson's address - take a look around Emma's room, see if you can find anything that might distinguish her from the other missing girls or if there's anything that seems at all unusual. JJ, I've also given the police your number so they're able to contact you if they find anything else', he told them.
'Remember - try and keep your head clear, like with any other case. Just forget that we only have 14 hours to find her, or that she's Reid little sister, just focus on the case', Gideon reminded them.
'Easier said than done', Morgan muttered under his breath.
Heathrow airport was bustling with people and the team were struggling to make it through the airport with all their luggage. Unfortunately, the long flight had ignited both Morgan and Garcia's headaches again, and the large crowds were causing both of their head's to start throbbing painfully. Once the team had finally managed to escape from the airport, they discovered that outside was not much better - just after their flight had landed, snow had begun to fall on England and already there was a thick layer of it building up on the road. As the snow swirled thickly around them, and the team was shivering whilst waiting for taxi's to arrive to take them to their two destinations, Prentiss asked,
'What do we do about Reid? Where do you think he'll be?'.
'He'll probably want to throw himself into the case as much as he can. You know Reid, he doesn't like to feel helpless. My bets are, he'll probably be at the police station', Gideon replied.
'And if he's not?', Garica asked worriedly.
'Then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it', Hotch told her, but seeing Garcia about to protest he added, 'Don't worry, if he's not at the police station or at the Johnson's house, I officially give you permission to start a search party.'
Looking slightly more satisifed, Garcia sat back down on her bright pink suitcase. The wind meant that the team almost didn't catch what JJ said next.
'You don't think he'll do anything stupid, do you?', she whispered quietly, not looking directly at anyone.
Suddenly Morgan stood up and grabbed onto JJ's shoulders.
'Don't...just don't say that, not ever. He won't, I know Reid, he wouldn't do that to us', he said, looking fiercly into JJ's eyes, shaking her slightly.
'Morgan...', Hotch began, before they all turned when they heard a car beep it's horn right behind them. Waiting there, was two black cabs. One of the driver's stuck his head out of the window and said in a strong London accent,
'Taxis for the FBI?'.
Gideon stepped forward, 'Yes, that's us', as he began to pick up his travel bag.
The taxi driver and the other cabbie got out of their taxi's and helped the team to unload their luggage. As Hotch and Gideon stepped into one taxi, and JJ and Prentiss clambered into the other, Morgan turned to Garcia, and enveloped her into a tight hug.
'Don't worry babygirl, we'll find them both, okay?', he whispered into her ear.
'Yeah', said Garcia shakily, as she pulled out of the hug.
'Call me if you need me alright?', Morgan called to her, to which Garcia nodded, as they both got into the seperate taxis and were whisked away from the busy airport.
Surrey's police station was on the corner of a long, main road, on which the traffic had been so bad because of the snow, that Hotch, Gideon and Garcia had considered getting out of the taxi and walking to the station, but the thought of having to drag their suitcases and other luggage in the biting cold wind had kept them in their seats. When they had finally made it through the door of the station, flakes of snow in their hair and on their clothes, there were immediately approached by a plump policeman, wearing a black uniform.
'Quantico's Behavioural Analysis Unit?', he asked them, as he reached fowards to shake all of their hands.
'Yes, I'm SSA Hotchner, this is Senior SSA Jason Gideon and Penelope Garcia', Hotch replied, motioning to his fellow team members.
'Thank-you so much for coming, if you'll follow me please', the policeman said, leading them to a small room at the back of the station, that consisted of a large pinboard, a whiteboard and a table and chairs, 'You can set up here'.
'Thank-you', Hotch said, then, seeing Garcia give him a look that said 'Go on!', he added, 'Um detective, you haven't by any chance seen Dr Spencer Reid have you? We assumed he'd be here, we know that Emma's his sister and he'll want to work on the case'.
The detective's face paled slightly and his expression was a grave one. 'D-Did no-one tell you the latest news?'.
'What latest news?', Garcia asked, her voice sounding slightly frantic.
'About half an hour ago, one of our officers found blood, a lot of it. We identified it as Emma's and when we told your colleague, he just ran from the building and nobody's seen him since, we assumed he was with you', the detective said quietly.
'What?', Garcia shrieked, her expression becoming that of extreme panic.
Putting a hand on her shoulder, Gideon said, 'Garcia, please, remember what I said, we have to stay calm'. Then, turning to the detective, he asked, 'You said you found blood - how much?'.
The detective sighed, before replying; 'A lot. We got a doctor to look at it, and he said that there's still a chance that Emma could be alive, but, because she lost so much blood, there's no chance that she's gonna last 14 hours. So, if we want to find her alive, we're gonna have to find her soon'.
A look of panic quickly crossed Hotch's face, before his regained his composure and said matter-of-factly, 'Where did you find the blood?'.
'It was spread from the tube station that Emma passes on her way to school, down the road, but then the trail just stops completely. Not even a drop from that point onwards, even in the snow', the detective said roughly.
'Okay, we're gonna need to go to where the blood was found, but first we need to contact the rest of our team. Is it okay if we call you when we're ready?', Hotch asked.
'Of course, whatever you need', the detective said, walking from the room, quietly closing the door behind him. As soon as he had left, Garcia quickly opened her phone and called Morgan, putting the phone on speaker so both Hotch and Gideon could hear too. The phone only rang once before Morgan picked up, sounding concerned.
'Babygirl is everything okay?', he asked urgently.
'N-not really', Garcia replied, her voice shaking heavily.
'Morgan you're on speaker, put your phone on speaker too, I need to talk to everyone', Gideon told him, his voice authorative.
'Hey guys, what's up?', Prentiss asked.
'We have a problem', Hotch began. He took a deep breath, and then continued, 'About half an hour ago, one of the police department found a lot of Emma's blood. There's a chance she could still be alive, but there's no way she could last 14 hours if she is, so we need to find her quickly.'
'WHAT?', Morgan yelled down the phone, slight hysteria in his voice. Although none of them had ever met Emma, or known about her until a few hours ago, it was clear just how much she meant to Reid and they felt a responsibility to bring her back to him alive, but this was becoming a harder task by the minute.
'Was there ever any blood found with any of the other victims?', Prentiss asked.
'No', murmered Gideon, who was sounding the most calm of them all, 'The unsub's becoming more confident, more vicious, this is the kill he's been waiting for.'
'So you think she's already dead?', asked JJ.
'No, if this is the kill he's been waiting for, he's still gonna spread it out over a certain period of time', Gideon replied.
'Yeah, but how long? How much time do we have?', Morgan asked, his breathing very erratic.
'I'd say around a couple of hours', Gideon replied.
'Wait, what about Reid? Is he with you? Is he okay?', JJ asked, her voice suddenly full of concern.
'No, he's not here. The detective said he just dissapeared after he found out about Emma's blood being found.', Gideon replied.
'Oh God', Prentiss sighed.
'Should we send someone out to look for him? You know, in case, he does something stupid, we don't know how Reid usually handles things like this?', Garcia whispered, as if scared of the team's reaction.
'No, not yet', Gideon was the first to reply, 'We'll wait to see if turns up here or at the Johnson's house. If we haven't seen him in an hour, then we can start to panic'. Seeing that Garcia still wasn't convinced, he turned to face her and added, 'Don't worry, Reid's strong, I'm sure he won't do anything, at least not while there's still a chance that Emma's still alive.'
Garcia just nodded and took a deep breath, before saying, 'So, have you guys arrived at the Johnson's yet?'.
'Not yet, we're almost there. You know, I usually love the snow, but at the moment, I just wish it would dissapear!', Prentiss huffed.
'I know what you mean, it was a nightmare getting down this road alone!', Garcia replied.
'Well, it looks like we've just arrived, we'll call you later. Stay safe', Morgan said, snapping the phone shut and leaving a silence lingering in the room of the police station.
'Emma's room is just up here', a detective told them, as she led Morgan, JJ and Prentiss up the winding stairs. Julie and Harry Johnson were currently out looking for Emma, after they had refused to just stay at their house and 'do nothing'.
'It's the attic room on the top floor', the detective said, pointing towards a spiral staircase leading upwards, before heading back down the stairs. Morgan led the way, walking up the stairs and opening the door, walking into the room. Emma's bedroom was large; the walls were painted a cream colour and she had various pieces of furniture in there, as well as an en suite. But it wasn't these things that were of interest to the team; as they looked around the room, they realised just how much Emma was like her older brother. Her room was kept immaculately clean for a teenager, her bookshelf was crammed full of books of all genres - biographys, historical books, crime books (which Morgan guessed were a gift from Reid, though he made a mental note to ask him, when all of this was over) and various school textbooks, and on every free shelf there were photos - a few were of Emma and her friends, but mostly, there were photos of her and her brother. In every picture, both Reid and Emma were smiling - there was a picture of them in the snow standing next to a snow man, a picture of them on a trampoline, in a park. Despite the situation, Morgan couldn't help but smile to himself, as he saw just how happy Reid looked in every photo.
'Wow, they look really close', muttered Prentiss as she picked up a photo that was next to Emma's bed, of Reid giving her a piggy-back, with the London Eye in the background.
'Yeah, they really do.', JJ sighed, a sad look in her eyes.
'Hey guys, look at this', Morgan called, as he picked up a photo album, which was on the end of Emma's bed. The front cover had been decorated with glitter and plastic gems, and the words 'Me and my Brother' had been written on there. As he opened it, so that JJ and Prentiss could see it too, they found that it was crammed with photos of Reid and Emma - the first photos showed both Emma and Reid to be a lot younger, but as they flicked through the book, the photos showed them to be getting older. The last photo that was in there was of Emma and Reid on a pair of swings in a park, big grins on both of their faces - the caption underneath read, 'Me and Spence on the swings, 1st January 2012!'. JJ and Prentiss' moods both sunk, as it loomed on them just how much pain their friend must be feeling right now. However, Morgan began to flick through the album again, a puzzled look on his face.
'Morgan, what is it?', JJ asked him.
'Look', he said, turning to them and pointing to the album's last photo. 'This park, in loads of these photos, they're in this park. I reckon, if Reid's not here or at the police station, this is where he'll be.'
'I think you're right', said Prentiss, looking more closely at the photo, 'He'll probably have gone to a place where he feels safe, a place he's used to here.'
'I'm gonna go and ask that policewoman if she knows where abouts this park is, you guys call Hotch and Gideon', Morgan told the girls, as he hurried down the stairs, album in hand. He found the policewoman talking to another policewoman, so he tapped her lightly on the shoulder.
'Excuse me, can you tell me where this park is please?', he asked politely.
'Uhh, let me see', said the policewoman, as she craned her neck to look at the photograph Morgan was showing her, 'Oh yeah, I know that place. It's a few miles away from here, here it is on the map'.
'Thank-you very much', Morgan replied, 'Would you mind telling my colleagues upstairs that that's where I've gone?', he asked, not leaving the policewoman much choice as he hurried out of the house and into the taxi.
Morgan had gotten the taxi to drop him off by the swings seen in the photos. He'd been wandering around the snow covered fields for half an hour, shivering in his thin leather jacket, and was just about to give up and call the team, when he saw Reid. He was sat down on a snow-covered bench, wearing his usual black coat with a purple scarf. As Morgan quietly walked closer to him, he saw that Reid was crying, silent tears streaming down his pink cheeks. He was rocking back and forth slowly on the bench, his head bent, his expression that of utter sadness.
'Reid?', Morgan murmered, bending closer to him, after his fellow agent hadn't heard his footsteps approaching.
Reid's head slowly turned to face Morgan, and the look of on his face tugged at Morgan's heart; he didn't like seeing his friend upset, so Morgan sat down next to Reid on the bench, lightly pushing the snow out of the way, and said quietly, 'Hey, it's gonna be okay'.
'No', Reid whispered, going back to his rocking. 'No it's not, this is all my fault, she's my little sister, I was supposed to protect her, but I haven't and now she could be dead', his voice broke on the word 'dead' and he began to sob quietly, his breathing becoming deep and irregular.
'Hey Reid', his voice becoming stronger, 'You gotta listen to me okay, this is NOT your fault. We all thought that this guy had just stopped, none of us knew he was gonna start killing again, let alone in a different country'.
'But I should have been here', Reid replied, his voice still weak and broken from his continious stream of tears, 'I should have been here to protect her, not a nine hour flight away'.
'You can't be here all the time Reid, you have a job and a whole other life back at Quantico. Besides, there's no saying this wouldn't have happened even if you had been here', Morgan replied.
'A whole other life...', Reid echoed, 'But what if it was that whole other life that meant she was hurt? The unsub knew the BAU were involved in the case, it can't just be a coincidence that he happened to abduct Em'; Reid's voice changed when he said 'Em' - it was suddenly so full of love and the nickname came so naturally out of mouth that Morgan almost didn't notice it.
'Look Reid', Morgan said, seeing that his friend was almost on the verge of breaking down. 'You love your sister right?'
'I do', Reid murmered, still not looking at Morgan, 'I love her so much it hurts Morgan'.
'Right', said Morgan, his voice now more confident, 'Well, you're the one who knows her best. Your background and hers could help us to solve this case. Look, I know it's hard to accept, but time is running out here, we need you Reid, Emma needs you.'
Reid just sat there, still staring blankly at the ground, until Morgan mentioned that his sister needed him. At this, Reid suddenly sat upright, and Morgan could see in his eyes that he was going to help them - he was determined to find his baby sister.
'Come on Pretty Boy', Morgan said, standing up from the bench and brushing the snow of his trousers, 'We've got an unsub to find.'
Author's Note: I am so sorry for the slow update! I just really wanted to make this chapter so much longer, and my reward to you is this lovely long chapter! Don't worry, I plan to make the other chapters this long as well, the first two chapters were just more setting the scene. I want to thank everyone who has favourited/alerted the story so far and I'd love to know your thoughts on this chapter, so, please review! Thank-you so much for sticking with the story, you're all wonderful! :D